The idea of a University. Professionalisation. Research: Theory, Method, Practice Lectures 3: Human and social sciences Stefan Arnborg, KTH

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1 Research: Theory, Method, Practice Lectures 3: Human and social sciences Stefan Arnborg, KTH Modern Global University system: clever and delicate merge of enlightenment inspired French Grandes Ecoles and German idealism, worked out by Wilhelm von Humboldt, James Henry Newman, Goethe, Schiller, Schleiermacher. The idea of a University A University is a place whither students come from every quarter for every kind of knowledge; a place for the communication and circulation of thought, by means of personal intercourse. It is the place to which a thousand schools make contributions; in which the intellect may safely range and speculate. It is a place where inquiry is pushed forward, discoveries verified and perfected, and error exposed, by the collision of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge. Mutual education, in a large sense of the word, is one of the great and incessant occupations of human society. One generation forms another. We must consult the living man and listen to his living voice, by familiar intercourse to adjust together the claims and relations of their respective subjects of investigation. Thus is created a pure and clear atmosphere of thought, which the student also breathes. So wrote John Henry Newman in The Idea of a University in Professionalisation Pioneered by Florence Nightingale, first female member of Royal Statistical Society, inventor of pie charts and performance metrics. Also founder of nursing profession and pioneer of intervention studies. 1

2 Three Inconvenient Germans Karl Marx ( ) Class, Organization of Production, Revolution Founder of latest state religions Friedrich Nietzsche ( ). Aesthetics revolutionized, existentialist and post-modernity icon Sigmund Freud ( ), discoverer of the unconscious Four post-modern Frenchmen Lyotard: Knowledge and Commodification Derrida: Text and Close Reading Foucault: Power and built structures Latour: Actor network theory (with Callon) We have never been modern Max Weber on Marx and Nietzsche 1920: Anyone in the Social Sciences or the Humanities who claims his work independent of Nietzsche and Marx is either dishonest or incompetent Oakley: Ways of Knowing Qualitative and quantitative Relation to subjects Gendered knowledge RCT: Randomized Controlled Trials 2

3 Randomized Controlled Trials Are not always randomized Are seldom controlled enough Are they truly trials? History of Gendered Studies Professional exclusion of women Confined to dilletantism Equal rights Gendered perspective: Gendered research question Gendered methodology Gendered carreer Qualitative Research Margaret Mead: Best known (to American public) scientist before Einstein Coming of Age in Samoa, controversies settled or not? Immersion, constructing Critical Theory Critical theory was first defined by Max Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School of sociology in his 1937 essay Traditional and Critical Theory: Critical theory is a social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole, in contrast to traditional theory oriented only to understanding or explaining it. Horkheimer wanted to distinguish critical theory as a radical, emancipatory form of Marxian theory, critiquing both the model of science put forward by logical positivism and what he and his colleagues saw as the covert positivism and authoritarianism of orthodox Marxism and Communism. (W-ia) 3

4 Action Research Action research is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice"to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. Action research is done simply by action, hence the name. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with others to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its work practices (Center for Collaborative Action Research). Action Research Kurt Lewin, then a professor at MIT, first coined the term action research in about In his 1946 paper Action Research and Minority Problems he described action research as a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action that uses a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of the action. (W-ia) Social Science for improvement Naive positivism: Measure, analyze, find causes of bad things, remove causes Intervention: Document indicators before and after. Problems: Relevance of indicators, Hawthorne, outcome definition, spill-over, confounders, ethics. Hawthorne and Placebo Clients of Healers & Homeopathists, subjects in the nointervention group can also see positive changes Is this pseudoscience? (Kathy Sykes TV programmes) Brain s reward system releases signal substances that have the same type of effect as drugs? Similarity with managerial methods: reorganisation, reform, events, kickoffs, and other rituals Current fight between therapists (CBT) and psychiatrists (drugs). 4

5 Social Science Agenda Critical Theory: Find obstacles for emancipation, and implementation method. Scientific validity? Evidence based everything: Study phenomenon (education, health care, civil service) as a preparation for intervention study Problematization: Is the outcome objective relevant? Example by Bauer: Attitudes of public towards science is not always what scientists want. Is this a problem for the public or for scientists? 5